Ryan Raburn has been playing most of his career with the
Tigers. He started in the Tigers farm
system in 2001. In 2004 he made his
major league debut as a late season call up.
With runners on first and second and one out in the 9th, the
Tigers were trailing the Twins 8-4. Ryan
came in to pinch hit for shortstop Jason Smith.
Ryan took it to a full count before striking out swinging. Ryan got in 12 games that season but hit only
.138 with 15 K’s in 29 at bats. He did
not make it back up to the Tiges until 2007.
He did better that year. He hit
.304 in 49 games as a back up outfielder/second baseman. He just about doubled his playing time in
2008 getting into 92 games as back up outfielder/second baseman/third baseman
but his average dropped to .236 and his K’s were still high at 49 in 182 at
bats. 2009 has been his best season to
date. He hit .291 with 16 homers and
only 60 K’s while being the starting left fielder. Since then his average dropped every year until
in 2012 he was hitting .171 for the Tiges with 53 K’s in only 205 at bats. Often power hitters are allowed to be free
swinging with lots of K’s and a low average.
But with Ryan’s lack of average and high K’s cane only 1 homer. After making $2.1M last year the Tigers released
him at the end of the season. 2013 found
Ryan with the Cleveland Indians and hitting .272 for the Tribe as a back up
outfielder. He kept the back up role in
2014 but with diminished time and average hitting only .200. In 2015 he is a starting DH for the
Tribe. He is 4 for 16 in 6 games to
date.
Max St. Pierre has spent a long time in the Tigers farm
system and has enjoyed a cup of coffee with the Tigers. He started his career out of high school in
Quebec at the age of 17 with the Lakeland Tigers in 1997. He has worked his way up to AAA Toledo at
times but has spent most of his time in AA with Erie. He has been a good defensive catcher with a
.988 fielding percentage and a 35% rate of throwing out base stealers. In 2007, after 10 years in the minors he
signed with the Kansas City Royals only to be traded to the Milwaukee
Brewers. The Brewers tried to turn him
into a pitcher but before he even pitched one game they gave up on the
experiment and released him. He resigned with the Tigers and in 2010 got the
call up to the Tiges at the age of 30.
He watched from the bench for three games before getting into a
game. He got the start behind the plate
against the Royals and was hitless in his first three at bats when in the 8th,
with the score tied 4-4 he got a single.
Will Rhymes followed with a single that moved Max to second. There he was removed for pinch runner Brennan
Boesch who scored the winning run on a single by Austin Jackson. The Royals did not steal on Max. Max got in 3 more games as without a
hit. Then on October 1 he got into a
game against the Orioles when he replaced Alex Avilla behind the place
defensively with the Orioles ahead 9-1.
In the top of the 8th he led of and on the first pitch he hit
a line shot double to deep left. Four
batters latter Ryan Raburn drove in Max.
When the season ended Max had a total of 2 hits in 6 games and scored
one run. He was back in the Tigers farm
system in 2011. When the season ended
Max was released. He signed with the Red
Sox before the 2012 season but was released by the Red Sox on March 29. In April Max was suspended for 50 games for
PED’s. Maybe the Sox were tipped off
that he was about to get busted. After
serving the suspension Max then went to his roots and Quebec to play for the
Les Capitales de Quebec of the Canadian American Association in June and
July. He actually pitched in 11 games
and was 1-0 with a 10.80 ERA before his career ended in July. He never played in pro ball after that.
Pedro Garcia played briefly as a Tiger during his
career. He was originally signed by the
Seattle Pilots as an amateur free agent in 1969. The Pilots moved to Milwaukee in 1970 and
became the Brewers. Pedro also became a
member of the Brewer’s farm system. He
worked his way up to the big leagues in 1973 when he replaced Ron Theobald at
second base for the Brew Crew. He hit
.245 that first season and tied for the league lead in doubles with Sal Bando
at 32. That was the lowest league
leading total ever in the American League.
But he did not have a good eye for taking walks (40 BB to 119 K’s) and
only had a OBP of .296. His fielding was
also just below the league average for second basemen. In 1974 Pedro struggled at the plate with a
.199 average and only a .248 OBP. Yet he
was still the Brewers starting second baseman.
In 1975 Pedro was still hitting only .225 and the Brewers were trying
out other possible second basemen such as Kurt Bevacqua, Bob Sheldon and Tim
Johnson. In 1976 the Tigers and Brewers
traded second basemen. The Tiges sent
Gary Sutherland to the Brewers for Pedro in June. Gary had been hitting .205 and Pedro was
hitting .217 at the time. Pedro became
the Tiger starting second baseman while Tim Johnson became the Brewers
starter. Pedro would hit only .198 for
the Tiges in 77 games. At the end of the
season the Tigers released Pedro in December without another second baseman in
the wings. It was not until February the
Tigers signed Tito Fuentes as the second baseman for the 1977 season. Pedro signed with the expansion Toronto Blue
Jays for the 1977 season. He was third
in the depth charts for the Blue Jays at second. At the end of the season Pedro was done in
the majors. He played until 1982 in the
minors and in the Mexican Leagues.
Pedro’s career batting average was .220.
Charlie Jaeger played his entire time in the majors with the
Tigers. He was first in organized ball
in 1904 at the age of 29 with the Rockford Red Sox of the III League. He ended that season as Tiger rightie pitcher
after the Tiges bought his contract from Rockford. He made his debut against the St. Louis
Browns in Detroit. The Tiges split a
double header with the Browns with the Tiges taking game one 3-1 and the Browns
taking the second game 5-0. It is not
known which game Charlie pitched.
Charlie did pitch in 8 games for the Tigers and started 6 of those. 5 of those 6 starts were complete games. He posted a 3-3 record with a 2.57 ERA. He struck out 13 while walking 15. At the plate he did manage to get one hit for
a .059 average. He K’d 10 times and
walked only once. Charlie never played
in the majors again after those 8 games.
He stuck around in the low minors mainly in his home state of Illinois
for another 10 years, until he was 39, and posted a known record of 56-64.
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